Jan 12, 2017

The older woman who twisted me into avant garde origami giggled as I grunted and heaved and yelped in pain.  Angel was behind a curtain a couple of feet away, and luckily he couldn’t help moaning and gasping either.  For the second night in a row, we had left the hotel and ducked into a small Thai massage parlor.  We both powered through one of the hardest, and best, massages we’d ever had the night before.  In the afterglow post-pain, we admitted that it was amazing.  And then we returned.

One of our best nights of food in South East Asia was at Bin Thong, a non-descript restaurant outside of the Beyond hotel.  Every dish is amazing, from the best Tom Kha Gai coconut soup I’ve ever had to an obscenely rich green curry, a fried whole snapper, and a tartly sweet pad thai.

We discover the hidden edges of Klong Muang beach the last day of the trip, after having a beer at a nearly hidden reggae bar off a deserted strip of road.  Mangroves divide the beach into small arcs of private paradise.  Angel lays beneath one mangrove at the edge of the water, closing his eyes peacefully until a giant white millipede burrows from the sand into the hair on his chest and he runs shrieking into the water to escape.

Our last night, he takes me to a birthday dinner along the other edge of Klong Muang, lined with adorable beach restaurants on the sand.  We eat as the sun sets over the Andaman, and he gives me a jade pendant that he bought in Cambodia, a partner to the one that hangs around his neck.  Afterwards, we walk along the beach, stopping to lay on a chaise outside of a bar with the sounds of a really good vocalist singing a cover of Adele’s Hello.  We hold hands and talk about when we can travel again for an extended time together.  Can we save money for two years and then take off 3 or 6 months to circle the globe?

Just another ridiculously gorgeous beach in Thailand.

Talk about that kind of future seems easy, even though we haven’t had any substantial talks about our “relationship.”  We haven’t talked about being boyfriends.  But there is something natural, and easy, about making plans far into the future.

Sunset from the balcony at the Beyond Krabi, overlooking the Andaman Sea.

We part the next day in the Krabi airport, as I wait for my later flight to Hong Kong and LAX, while he stayed for 3 days in Bangkok.  He waves as he gets up to the last passport check, and I watch him down the gangway until I can’t see him any longer.

There are 10 more days until we make it official.